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'Pieces are there' again as North softball wins behind Rabin

By VINNIE DUBER – editorial@shawmedia.com

April 2, 2014

ST. CHARLES – Some days, the score is going to be 18-11. Some days, it’s going to be 3-0.

The St. Charles North softball team’s season is just two games old, but already the North Stars have experienced results in games at both ends of the run-scoring spectrum. The good news for the North Stars is that they’ve won both.

A day after starting the season with a slugfest victory against Plainfield Central, North pulled out a 3-0 win Wednesday against Schaumburg behind Sabrina Rabin’s three-hitter.

“I think we can score in multiple ways,” North Tom Poulin said. “We can win in a shootout, a high-scoring game, or we could manufacture a couple runs. I thought we hit the ball hard today, some of them were right at people. But we were aggressive on the bases again. … Schaumburg’s a good opponent; I’m happy just to get a win. That’s a strong conference and a strong team.”

In a drastic departure from Tuesday’s high-scoring affair, the scoring summary was a brief one.

Third baseman Erin Nemetz drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the second inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, the North Stars picked up another two runs, the first scoring on an error at first base and the second coming home on an RBI double from second baseman Kaitlyn Waslawski.

And that’s all the North Stars needed.

The Northwestern-bound Rabin was strong after an outing she’d rather forget in the team’s first game. Although she didn’t record a strikeout – neither side did – Rabin didn’t allow a run and scattered five base runners over her seven innings. Stranded runners were a theme: The Saxons left five on base, and the North Stars left eight.

“Her control was a lot better today,” Poulin said of Rabin. “She pitched OK [Tuesday]. She was a little bit closer to herself [Wednesday]. She’s getting there. This is the second time she’s pitched outside since probably the fall. … Once she gets clicking, she’s as dominant as they get in the circle.”

“I liked my pitching performance better than the last game,” Rabin said. “Each time out I throw, I’ll get better.

“It was good that we got on the board and we were able to keep them off. That helped, confidencewise, for our defense that we got a couple more. And also that we left the runners stranded, too.”

It’s just the beginning of the year for North, and though its first two wins haven’t exactly been similar, Poulin has a positive outlook on how things will play out this season.

“We know we have the talent,” Poulin said. “A lot of times, you have the pieces of the puzzle, you need to put them all together. I think we have the talent, but seeing how they fit together, really positive and optimistic about what will happen going forward with the way the chemistry’s developed already. And the pieces are there, all the pieces you need to be successful.”

Andrea Beal and Emily Brodner both had two hits for North.

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